Investigating when religious culture increases trade credit: A signaling theory approach

Drawing on signaling theory, we propose that religious culture leads suppliers to alter their beliefs about their customers’ trustworthiness. Strong religious cultures are interpreted as a signal of fewer agency problems and less information asymmetry, which helps firms gain more trade credit from suppliers. The empirical tests performed in this study show that firms headquartered in areas with strong religious cultures receive more trade credit than other firms. This positive relation is more prominent when such firms are located in areas with lower levels of social trust. A further analysis reveals that the increasing effect of religious culture on trade credit eases financing constraints. Overall, our findings indicate that religious culture can be a broad indicator of firms’ ethical preferences that influences their access to trade credit by signaling their potential for a high level of trustworthiness.     

Inter‐Firm Trade Finance in Times of Crisis

The paper discusses the main features that distinguish inter‐firm international trade finance from alternative sources of financing and evaluates the potential effects of a financial crisis on the use of this form of financing for firms operating in developing countries. It argues that, on the one hand, inter‐firm trade finance could help overcome informational problems associated with other lending relationships, but, on the other, it may contribute to propagate shocks because of the interconnection among firms along credit chains. While these advantages could remain largely unexploited because of poor legal institutions, the disadvantages could be exacerbated because of these firms’ greater exposure to a default chain. Based on these arguments, a menu of choices is identified for policymakers to boost firms’ access to inter‐firm trade finance in times of crisis.     

Effect of financial development on international trade in Africa: Does measure of finance matter?

Although improving international trade on the back of financial sector development is one of the preoccupations of countries in Africa, empirical literature on financial development-trade nexus has not been rigorous in examining how finance shapes trade. In this study, we examine the effect of financial development on international trade in Africa relying on data for 46 countries over the period 1980–2015. Results from our system generalized method of moments reveal differential effects of finance on trade. In particular, we notice that, private credit does not promote trade while domestic credit positively affects trade. These effects are robust to measures of trade. Thus, improving the level of private (domestic) credit dampens (amplifies) exports and trade openness. However, we also find a U-shaped relationship between private credit and trade measures suggesting that financial sector development may be detrimental (helpful) to trade for economies with low (high) level of private credit.     

Small businesses and liquidity constraints in financing business investment: Evidence from shanghai's manufacturing sector

When firms experience financial hierarchy, external finance, if at all available, is substantially more expensive than internal finance. Factors such as transaction costs, agency problem, and asymmetric information have created such a hierarchy. Stiglitz and Weiss (1981) argue that asymmetric information between firms and potential suppliers of external finance creates adverse selection and moral hazard problems in the credit market in developed market economies. This problem of a higher cost of external finance is commonly thought to be more serious for small firms because they are more disadvantaged than their larger counterparts in accessing external finance due to several factors: (1) Public information on small firms is generally not available and leads to the even greater problem of asymmetric information, i.e., more severe adverse selection and moral hazard problems. These information problems have excluded small firms from bond and share markets. (2) Due to the lack of available means of external finance, small firms rely more heavily on bank loans than their larger counterparts. In addition, as small firms are more interested in cultivating stable relationships with a few banks in order to secure a stable supply of credit, these banks become virtual monopolies by lending to small businesses and exercise their market power in lending to small firms.Most of existing research considers only small firms in market economies; little research has been done to understand the relationship between firm size and investment financing in any economy in transition. This paper makes a contribution to the literature by studying the relationship between firm size and liquidity constraints by using a firm level data of manufacturing enterprises in Shanghai during the period of 1989–1992. We consider whether small manufacturing firms in Shanghai are constrained by the availability of liquidity compared with their larger counterparts when they are financing their fixed investment. In a transforming economy such as China (or other similar transition economies), external finance relies heavily on loans from banks that are fully owned by the state. Due to historical reasons, allocations of credit are always biased in favor of state-owned enterprises. Such a `lending bias' imposes an extra cost on small Chinese enterprises in financing investment as the majority of them are not state-owned.In such an environment, our empirical results show that small manufacturing firms in Shanghai are actually less liquidity-constrained than their larger counterparts in financing their fixed investment. This surprising result is rather different from what people normally predict based on the experience in market economies. We suggest three possible explanations for this peculiar finding: (1) The composition of various firm size classes plays an important role in explaining the result: Non-state enterprises which are fast growing and efficient dominate the small firm classes. Their successes in the markets helps them to generate enough internal funds to smooth their investment over time. (2) The presence of heavy indebtedness of large state-owned enterprises may deprive them of sufficient cash available for investment decision. Given that state-owned enterprises have been making heavy losses, the central and regional governments have a liquidity problem in satisfying their huge liquidity demands. (3) Small enterprises in non-state sectors can rely on the informal credit market to obtain funds for investment although they are excluded from the state banking system.However, the further trade liberalization in terms of eliminating tariffs and quotas caused by China's bid of joining the WTO will erode the profits of these small enterprises as imported goods will be supplied at lower prices. In addition, further reforms in financial sectors may also affect the supply of external finance to small enterprises in nonstate sectors. The consequence may lead to a tight liquidity constraint for small enterprises in China.     

Firms and the global crisis: French exports in the turmoil

Global trade contracted quickly and severely during the global crisis. This paper uses a unique dataset of French firms to match export data to firm-level credit constraints and shows that most of the 2008–2009 trade collapse was due to the unprecedented demand shock and to product characteristics. While all firms have been affected by the crisis, the effect on large firms has been mainly at the intensive margin and has resulted in a smaller portfolio of products being offered to export destinations. The effect on smaller exporters has been to reduce the range of destinations served or to stop exporting altogether. Credit constraints have been an added aggravation for firms active in high financial dependence sectors. However, the share of credit constrained firms is small and their number has not increased hugely during the crisis, with the result that the overall impact of credit constraints on trade has been limited.     

The trade credit channel revisited: evidence from micro data of Japanese small firms

It is suggested that trade credit can be a substitute for bank loans for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have little access to external funding sources. Using unique cross-sectional survey data of Japanese SMEs, we conduct a deep investigation into the substitutability between bank loans and trade credit. This survey contains rich information on the suppliers of trade credit to SMEs, thus enabling the examination of the channel through which credit is provided from suppliers to customers. We find that SMEs with little access to bank credit depend more on large suppliers for trade credit. We also find that when a purchase is made from a large supplier, more credit is indeed provided in the form of trade credit. Furthermore, this channel of credit from large suppliers to SMEs is only observed for solvent customers, not for insolvent customers. Our findings suggest that trade credit plays an important role for entrepreneurial firms over the financial growth cycle. For young and small firms with little access to bank loans trade credit is an important funding source.     

Do Firms Get the Financing They Want? Measuring Credit Rationing Experienced by Small Businesses in the U.S.

This paper measures the extent to which small businesses in the United States in the late 1980s were able to access the external credit finance they desired. We argue that a comprehensive definition of credit rationing must account for both (a) creditworthy firms that apply for and are denied financing, and (b) creditworthy firms that decide not to apply for desired external financing, given expectations about how long it may take to obtain financing and the evolution of investment opportunities.Data from a national survey of small businesses shows that only 2.14 percent of firms did not obtain the funding for which they applied in 1987–88. Another 2.17 percent may have faced some short-run constraints on investment: they were initially denied by lenders but received the credit for which they applied by the end of the sample period. Finally, an additional 4.22 percent of firms are estimated to have been discouraged from applying because of expected denial.Constrained firms are smaller, younger, and more likely to be owned by their founders than those firms that successfully applied for external finance. The total number of credit constrained firms seems quite small, particularly because we cannot distinguish empirically between creditworthy and noncreditworthy firms. Thus the extent of true credit rationing appears quite limited.     

Growing firms and the credit constraint

Restricted access to finance (either debt or equity or both) is potentially a significant constraint on the growth of small businesses. Financing problems arise primarily as a consequence of information asymmetries; the adverse effects of these may in part be counteracted by the use of collateral as a signalling and bonding mechanism and/or by the development of a good working relationship between lender and borrower. If the form of information asymmetry differs for growth firms or if the effects of information asymmetries are less easily ameliorated then growing firms may be more adversely affected by credit constraints. If growth is contingent upon access to credit then the generalised implications for the economy may be significant and detrimental. Using evidence from a survery of over 6,000 firms conducted in 1992, this paper addresses the extent to which growth firms are adversely affected by a credit constraint; the results suggest that the credit constraint for growing firms per se is no greater but growth firms may still experience a credit constraint as a consequence of their relative youth. However, there is evidence to suggest that firms expecting to grow in the future do perceive a rather tighter credit constraint but this may be partly or wholly offset by a generally better relationship with their bank.     

Trade credit and bank finance: Financing small firms in russia

This paper argues that Russian financial markets are more developed than typically supposed. I show that non-financial firms, suppliers of credit to other firms, support the role of financial intermediaries in helping to surmount problems of information asymmetries. Trade credit works as a signal; firms receiving it obtain access to bank loans. I test this hypothesis using data from my survey of 352 firms in Russia in 1995. Firms using trade credit are shown to have a higher probability of acquiring bank credit.     

Trade credit and SME profitability

Financial literature discusses the motives for trade credit provision by suppliers in depth. However, there is no empirical evidence of the effect of granting trade credit on the profitability of small and medium-sized firms. We examine the profitability implications of providing financing to customers for a sample of 11,337 Spanish manufacturing SMEs during the 2000–2007 period. This article also examines the differences in the profitability of trade credit according to financial, operational, and commercial motives. The findings suggest that managers can improve firm profitability by increasing their investment in receivables and that the effect is greater for financially unconstrained firms (larger and more liquid firms), for firms with volatile demand, and for firms with bigger market shares.     

Trade Credit,Bank Credit,and Flight to Quality: Evidence from French SMEs

This paper investigates the impact of the global financial crisis on the allocation of credit to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Using samples of French SMEs from four industries, we found support for the prediction of the flight‐to‐quality hypothesis that in bad times, credit flows away from smaller constrained firms to larger, higher grade firms. We also examined the relation between bank credit and trade credit in terms of two hypotheses: the substitution hypothesis and the complementary hypothesis. The results of fixed effects panel regressions showed that trade credit for small firms during periods of tight money acts generally as complement rather than substitute to bank credit, thus providing empirical support for the redistribution view of trade credit.     

Does Trade Credit Affect Technical Efficiency? Empirical Evidence from Italian Manufacturing SMEs

Using firm‐level data from the Italian manufacturing sector, we investigate the relationship between small and medium‐sized firms technical efficiency and trade credit. Our contribution is twofold: we provide evidence on an open empirical question, and disentangle the channels through which trade credit may influence firms' efficiency. According to our findings, based on the Simar and Wilson (2007) procedure, trade credit seems to positively affect firm efficiency by mitigating financial constraints. Indeed, trade credit enhances efficiency especially for firms that are more likely to be financially constrained (i.e., smaller and/or younger firms) and during the most recent financial crisis.     

OECD Export Credit Agencies: Supplementing Short-Term Export Credit Insurance during the 2008 Financial Crisis

ABSTRACT

The 2008 financial crisis impacted international trade in part due to decreases in trade finance and export credit insurance. This article shows that Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states used their public Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) to supplement the lack of private short-term export credit insurance as a means to increase trade. All OECD states, except Greece and Estonia, either increased the capacity of their ECAs to provide short-term export credit insurance, or they developed new products for this purpose. More generally, states that changed their short-term export credit insurance programs had major trading partners with defaults.     

后次贷危机时期官方支持的贸易融资之国际协调与监管

贸易融资作为解决付款信用的重要手段,在2008年美国次贷危机引发的金融危机之背景下,出现巨额缺口,严重威胁发达国家和发展中家的经济复苏进程,而私人部门和国际贸易合同主体提供的贸易融资仅是杯水车薪。国际社会针对发展中国家提供的贸易融资的支持之多边和区域努力,以及发达国家和地区在已有的融资安排基础上的调整,为贸易融资的国际协调提供了可能性。世界贸易组织的有关规定则为这种国际协调提供了监管机制。中国作为世贸组织成员,在金融危机背景下,应积极响应贸易融资的国际协调与监管,以促进本国国际贸易的健康发展。     

Financial Access and Firm Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa

The paper investigates the effect of access to finance on the productivity of manufacturing firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. With the aid of the Semi-parametric approach by Levinsohn and Petrin, findings reveal that access to a cost-effective line of credit/loan or an overdraft facility has a positive effect on firm productivity. The study, therefore, concludes that it is of outmost benefit for firms to acquire credit facilities for more productive projects and that the credit constraints firms in Africa face should be significantly relaxed.     

Cluster-based industrialization in China: Financing and performance

China's rapid industrialization despite the lack of a well developed financial system seems to defy the conventional thinking on the role of finance in development. This paper tries to explain the puzzle from the clustering point of view. Based on firm-level data from two recent censuses, we find that within industrial clusters: finer division of labor lowers the capital barriers to entry; closer proximity makes the provision of trade credit among firms easier. With less reliance on external financing, more small firms emerge within clusters, leading to higher levels of export and total factor productivity thanks to the resultant more fierce competition.     

Supply Chains,Global Financial Shocks and Firm Behaviour towards Liquidity Needs

Driven by the increasingly important role of supply chains in global production, this paper studies empirical association between global credit‐market shocks and firm behaviour towards liquidity needs across countries and industries. Focusing on the adjustment of working‐capital financing, we find two pieces of supporting evidence from international firm‐level panel data covering the period 2002:I–2012:IV. First, for industries where specific investment in the input supplier–customer relationship is large, firms are more exposed to credit‐market shocks. We find that measures of global credit‐market shocks are negatively associated with trade receivables, trade payables and inventories, conditional on the level of contract intensity in the industries where firms operate. Second, firms in emerging markets are more vulnerable to credit‐market shocks than are firms in developed countries. We are also able to verify the economic significance of sales growth, operating cash flows, cash stock and firm size in the overall adjustment. Our findings highlight the importance of balance‐sheet contagion along supply chains during the 2007–09 global financial crisis.     

基于供应链的中小企业贸易融资研究

供应链融资对解决中小企业贸易融资困境,发挥供应链整体竞争优势具有重要意义。供应链融资理念的树立,能为银行带来新的发展机遇。在考察了中小企业供应链贸易融资实践中存在的信用风险复杂化、供应链牢固性不强、抵质押资产甄选难度大、物流企业介入风险等突出问题的基础上,得出要优化中小企业贸易融资,必须谨慎防范信用风险、强化供应链管理、慎重选择抵质押物权,推动供应链融资产品创新、营造有利于供应链融资发展的社会环境。     

Do Suppliers Applaud Corporate Social Performance?

The influence of corporate social performance (CSP) on stakeholders is one of the focal issues in corporate social responsibility (CSR) research. Using data of listed companies in China, this paper examines whether CSR behavior in the form of charitable donations garners a positive reaction from suppliers. Results derived from both level and change model regressions show that superior CSP makes it easier for a firm to obtain trade credit from suppliers, although the effect is significant only in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs). The results are robust to various measures of CSP and endogeneity tests. The results support the strategic philanthropy view and apply stakeholder theory in supply chain, that strategic CSR can help firms to attract suppliers and consolidate cooperative relationships with them, which in turn benefits the firms in terms of more trade credit financing from suppliers. This paper also shows that state-owned enterprises and non-SOEs have different CSR intentions and use CSR to achieve strategic goals in different ways. The conclusions drawn from this study provide practical guidance on CSR strategy, suggesting that CSR activities can help a firm in transition economies to enhance its corporate image, establish and consolidate the good relationship with suppliers, and obtain economic benefits or achieve long-term business objectives.     

Trade credit versus bank credit: a simultaneous analysis in European SMEs

Small Business Economics - Trade credit and bank credit constitute two of the most important external sources of finance for small firms. The purpose of this paper, first and foremost, is to...